Recap of Blockchain meetup #9

RECAP OF MEETUP #9

Our meetup events are focused on bridging technology to people in an interactive and informative way. This edition we had two speakers to inspire us, one on HOW to build blockchain apps and another about WHY to build them.

Tuesday May 14th 2019 we had our ninth ‘blockchain knowledge exchange’ meetup. It’s difficult to pinpoint a single point of interest when catering to our diverse blockchain community on Meetup (330 members at time of writing). ‘Blockchain’ hyped in the 2018 crypto-boom and since then been kindof a buzzword that for every person raises different thoughts and feelings. We are convinced blockchain is here to stay and we are proud to host yet another succesful meetup!

During this blockchain meetup

We chose to invite two speakers that are working passionatly with blockchain. Erward Ciggaar is on the tech side and showed us how to utilize Hyperledger Fabric for building blockchain apps. Our second speaker Diana Kretschmann got inspired in Greece doing volunteer work and has the ambition to reward volunteers everywhere for their valuable effort in society. This evening it became clear that there’s so much opportunity but also a lot of work. The attendees all have different background but in general they are involved citizens with a pro-tech mindset. Everyone enjoyed both talks, meeting other people, drinking a beer (thanks SynTouch for sponsoring it) and we continued till closing hour with the followup discussions.

Speaker 1

Edward Ciggaar

Building blockchain apps using Hyperledger Fabric

No time to waste on blockchain basics, because our first speaker dove right into the code. Multiple screens showed us code, stubs and API calls bringing together an example use-case of 3 organizations handling aid donations. Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Composer, Loopback, Node-Red and the Fabric SDK where involved. Those with programming experience had an insightful walk-through, but some in the audience had glazy eyes waiting for the break (blockchain code is not for everyone you know).

Important to note the difference between permissionless blockchains (that are most known like Bitcoin and Ethereum) and permissioned blockchains like Hyperledger that Edward highlighted. Edward shared some links for us to get started ourselves!

Speaker 2

Diana Kretschmann

Blockchain for Good: the Case of Community Coins Eindhoven

Our second speaker is looking to make volunteering more sustainable. The ‘Possible Today Foundation‘ is a social tech startup that values community work.

Diana helped us find a purpose for technology by guiding us through her journey working with refugees and volunteering groups during the refugee crisis in Greece. Her work there inspired her to develop a community based crypto-token and application to motivate volunteers by offering direct reward and provide transparency in donations of money and time.

Who are we?

Our vision is to create a community, bring together people and foster discussions around blockchain. We “bridge”​ people in blockchain tech, cryptocurrencies, socially and in business to create a room for discussions and sharing. Our blockchain think tank is based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We are open for collaboration and always looking for interesting projects and speakers.

Help us grow the crypto community

We are a non-profit organization that is run by volunteers but that doesn’t mean we are not ambitious in our plans! Please help us grow so we can facilitate more events, attract international speakers and continue to expand a sustainable blockchain knowledge community.

Your XRP crypto tips are welcome!

Pay with cash or crypto?

We offered our attendees the opportunity to pay the event fee of € 5.- cash or in cryptocurrency. This edition half used the crypto option, a few no-shows and the rest brought cash (you know, legacy euro). Because of recent Bitcoin price rise the fees of BTC are a bit high (€ 1,60) but using Ethereum was faster and cheaper (€ 0,04) so everyone is happy.

What’s next

Crypto bullrun maybe? Maybe. At least summer is next; beach, sun, festivals and relaxation. Not that we desert blockchain stuff, just that we take it easy before hosting the next event… Please join and follow our meetup group to make sure you won’t miss out new announcements. Are you up for a social? (which means: a few beers, no speakers and informal chat) then just give any of us a nudge.